In Tyler Greene's first at-bat with the White Sox, he reached base when he shot a single to left off Mark Buehrle. Before another pitch was thrown, Buehrle picked him off.
So it's hard to blame him if he's extra-vigilant when being called upon to pinch-run in close-and-late situations. Here he is from Monday night:
And here his "Felix the Cat clock" while replacing Adam Dunn after his eighth-inning walk on Wednesday:
It's hard to compare Greene and Angel Sanchez, whose spot Greene took thanks to a back injury. Greene has far more power, and far more problems making contact. Sanchez is a slap hitter, but a superior glove guy. As long as Alexei Ramirez remains healthy and Conor Gillaspie doesn't cave, we probably won't see much of either, so the choice just may not matter all that much.
But only one of these guys is making his cameos stand out. At this rate, "Tyler Greene | Pinch Runner" will become its own show-within-a-show, and that's #MakeAnImpact enough for me. Especially if it leads to more stuff like this, from 35th and Shields (formerly Oral Sox):
Terrerobytes
Six-for-six in save opportunities this year, Addison Reed has taken the next step in his development. Daryl Van Schouwen makes note of Reed's equal effectiveness in non-save situations, which prompts me to point out something that's irked me
Van Schouwen is among many who have pointed to Reed's 6.20 ERA in non-save situations last year, as though it suggests Reed can't pitch in low-intensity situations. Problem is, that 6.20 ERA is heavily skewed by Reed's worst game of the year. He gave up six earned runs over one-third of an inning against Kansas City on May 13.
Take that game out of the equation, and Reed's ERA in non-save situations is 4.29. It's still higher than his ERA in save situations (3.49), but not in a way that's particularly meaningful over 21 innings. Relief ERA is already difficult enough to take at face value over the course of a full season, so there's no need to divide it into even smaller samples.
And if Reed has no qualms about pitching in tie games, then Robin Ventura should use that to his advantage. If the offense can't provide its pitching some cushions, Jesse Crain and Matt Lindstrom are going to need some help.
- Gillaspie happy to see hard work pay off in games -- whitesox.com
- That’s More Like It -- Scott Reifert
Conor Gillaspie -- whom Scott Reifert shows talking to fellow weather enthusiast Tom Skilling before the game -- sounds less embarrassed about succeeding, but he's still got the nervous humility thing going for him:
"Honestly, I've been kind of going through a learning curve of playing at this level, so I was just really happy to barrel something," Gillaspie said. "More of the satisfaction came from watching video for a few days and figuring out where I was a little bit off and fixing it and actually having it happen in a game. That was kind of more the rewarding thing for me than hitting the home run.
"Nothing major but when the game speeds up at this level and you start panicking, because the game moves so much faster than what I'm used to, just spending 10 minutes down there looking at something, saying, 'Maybe I'll try this' and then to have that pay off in a game actually, as opposed to BP, it's a rewarding experience. It makes you appreciate all the tools they have at this level to help you."
Jeff Sullivan looks at the wind data and discovers that the unluckiest homer allowed in terms of condition was the one Chris Sale allowed to Nick Swisher on April 13.
Coming up later today: Ventura's comments on the batting order, following up on Jeff Keppinger, Mark's Tampa Bay Rays preview, and a place to collectively brace while watching Brian Kenny try to reason with Hawk Harrelson.